


Taking the High Road

by Brumeier



Series: Sheppard's Crew [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Community: mcsheplets, Established Relationship, M/M, Prompt Fill, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 01:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13260645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: It's just another night on the job for John and his crew.





	Taking the High Road

**Author's Note:**

> Written for McSheplets Prompt #271: Safe

"What's the hold-up, McKay?" John murmured. 

Rodney waved him off. "Talking isn't helping." 

"Neither is being slow." 

Rodney flipped him off, his focus still on the dial he was very delicately turning. When he closed his eyes, he could feel as well as hear the click of the drive pin. It was lucky that Alonzo preferred vintage safes. Not that Rodney couldn't have cracked a newer, fancier one, but they only had a limited window of opportunity to get the job done. 

With a narrow-eyed look, Rodney gave the dial one final nudge. Few things gave him the same level of satisfaction as that last click that meant the safe had been cracked. He still maintained that his way was the best way, no matter how much Cadman argued in favor of C4. 

He got up from his crouched position, knees cracking, and gestured at the safe with a flourish. "It's all yours." 

John gave Rodney a heated look, his lips twitching up in a grin. "Finally." 

"Finally your ass. Open it up and let's go." 

Rodney was particularly motivated to finish the job because John was extra horny after a successful heist, even a low-level one. 

Teyla slipped into the room, silent as a cat despite the large bag she carried. Like John and Rodney she was dressed completely in black. "Are you done? We have only ten minutes left." 

John pulled the safe open, penlight between his teeth as he sifted through the contents. When he found the right case he held it aloft in victory and then passed it over to Teyla, who swapped out the real card for a painstakingly recreated fake. (Was there nothing Lorne couldn’t forge?) The phony card went back into the safe. 

Lights swept through the room suddenly as a car pulled into the driveway and they all froze in place. 

"Shit," John hissed. "He's early." 

Teyla grinned. "Escape plan B," she said, dropping her bag by the nearest window. 

"Oh, no. Not plan B. John!" Rodney did a mental review of the blueprints. There had to be another way out of the house. A safer way. 

"No time," John replied. 

Rodney sighed. Of course his adrenalin-junkie partner in crime didn't mind rappelling down the side of Alonzo's ridiculously large house, but Rodney could think of about a hundred things he'd rather be doing. 

Teyla quickly assembled her rig, a fancy bit of hardware that would bear their weight and yet be quickly collapsed once they were on the ground. Alonzo would never know he'd had uninvited company. 

John made sure Rodney was fully secured before sending him out the window, always first so he had the best chance to get away if things went south. Ronon was waiting below to collect them and get them in the SUV, and knowing the big guy could probably catch him if something went wrong was Rodney's only consolation. 

"I hate this," Rodney grumbled. 

"We know," John replied. He was next out the window, and Rodney had a pretty spectacular view of his ass. So, okay, that was also a consolation. 

Rodney held his breath until his feet touched solid ground again. He hastily detached himself from the ropes and got out of the way so Teyla could drop her bag down. It took her less than a minute to scale the side of the house and repack her rig. 

The four of them ran to the SUV, Rodney's heart pounding from the adrenalin of their close call. 

"Did you get it?" Ronon asked. 

John pulled out the card, grinning. "Oh, yeah." 

Just a simple looking piece of plastic, except that it was a full-access electronic key card that would open a whole host of doors in a particular small European country. It was their chance at the most lucrative heist of their career, after which Rodney planned on taking a long vacation with John. 

Ronon was their wheel man, and he made sure to pull sedately away from the curb so as not to draw any unwanted attention. Rodney knew, from unfortunate first-hand experience, that Ronon could also drive like the world's best and craziest stuntman, leaving anyone following in the dust. The barf bags tucked in the console weren’t a joke. 

"Tonight, we pack up," John said, slinging his arm over Rodney's shoulders. "We leave tomorrow afternoon with the rest of the team. Lorne will make the travel arrangements." 

"We should celebrate," Teyla said from the front seat. 

"Damn right we should." Rodney pulled John in for a kiss, full of tongue and promise. 

Today Alonzo, tomorrow the world.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** Lock manipulation, like the kind Rodney did here, is considered by some to be 'taking the high road' because it doesn't deface the safe in any way. Hence the title.


End file.
